With more than 14 million speakers, Shanghainese is the most widespread member of the Wu family of Chinese dialects and the predominant language of the city of Shanghai and the Yangzi River delta. Distinct from and mutually unintelligible with the "official" Chinese dialect of Mandarin, Shanghainese is experiencing a revival both within Shanghai and throughout central China. Used in business deals, cultural activities, and daily social interactions, Shanghainese is one of the most important dialects spoken in China and essential for visitors who want to experience Shanghai fully.

This concise, portable reference includes all the essential language a traveler needs, phonetically rendered in a way that is intuitive for English speakers. As Shanghainese is a spoken language, and not written, standard Mandarin Chinese glosses of the Shanghainese using Chinese characters are given for literate Chinese users.

Contains 4,000 dictionary entries, concise grammar and pronunciation sections, and a phrasebook that covers all the major categories of everyday communication.